Hollow
by xDemolitione
Summary: Alternate Timeline where nothing went as planned. Dave can't bear being alone.


You settle yourself down on the rooftop beside where he's laying, staring blankly up at the stars. You watch him for a moment, unsure whether he's unaware of your sudden presence, or he's realised you're there and is ignoring you. You just sit there, looking up at the same stars his wide eyes stare up towards, seemingly unblinking. You sigh softly.

"Hey Karkat." You say, glancing to him briefly. He makes no move to respond, his arms laying by his sides as he continues to stare at the sky. You think you see him shake his head, but it might have just been the slight breeze in his tangled hair.

"I really wish you'd come down and sit inside with us. Rose is getting annoyed with me for coming up here by myself to talk to you." You continue. You think you see him smile. "I don't care. I don't get what her problem is."

You can almost hear him laughing. You smile and set your shades down on the ground beside you.

"You must get really cold up here, you've barely moved for days." You shuffle, taking your cape off and handing it to him. You can't tell in the dim lighting but you're pretty sure he's rolling his eyes at you. You throw the cape over him, moving his arms to rest on top of the thick material. "You're a stubborn little shit, you know that? Just trying to be helpful so my best bro doesn't freeze up here all by himself."

He either sighs, or the wind picks up. You wish it was light enough for you to see him, but the sun is gone now, and the starlight is dim. Taking off your shades helped, but his expressions are just blurs. He looks sad, still staring up at the sky. You wish he would talk to you.

"Vantas can you just say something already? Why won't you come down and sit with us? Terezi's refusing to even talk about you. She won't come up here with me. Last time I asked her to she punched me and started crying and fuck if I know what to do with that. Is that a troll thing?"

You glance to his face, the shadows dancing across it giving the impression he's annoyed at the question, but still he says nothing. Sat alone on the rooftop in silence. Four days he's been up here, not sleeping, not eating. You don't know how long trolls can keep that shit up for but if he were human he'd be in serious trouble by now. He's obviously upset about something, but he won't talk. You know he won't talk.

You miss his raspy, annoying voice. You miss how he used to yell at you for everything. You want him to come back down and be social again instead of sitting up here like a rag doll.

He looks smaller than usual like this, wrapped up in your cape beside you. Your red eyes scan his own grey ones, the colour yet to leak into them. He's still so young. He doesn't look at you, despite the fact this would be the first time you've let him see your eyes properly. You'd have thought he'd be shocked, maybe he'd finally talk to you, but even when you lean over him it's like he's staring right through you, eyes open, mouth closed, stupid little teeth poking over his bottom lip like a caricature of his own self. You pat his shoulder lightly and he looks away from you, head turning to the side. You frown. Every time you come up here you end up just talking at him. About what's happened that day, what people have said, what's happened recently in fucking Can Town and how long until you reach the new session... He never talks. Just listens. Like an aggravating diary.

"Come on Karkat what did I do wrong? Let me fix it, please. Just tell me what I did and I can fix it and we can go back down into the lab and everyone can stop looking at me like I'm a fucking child when I come running up here." You're getting emotional. He's never seen you this emotional over anything, still he says nothing. This time when you shake him lightly his eyes slip shut, chest deflating slightly, like he's given up.

"Dave?"

You look over to the soft voice in the doorway, seeing Rose stood there, lingering.

"Rose please." You beg her, "Please get him to talk to me." She just frowns and shakes her head, retreating back slightly through the doorway, speaking with someone.

You're crying now, because you don't know what to do, you don't know what's wrong with him and you don't know how to fix it. You move your hand, ignoring the sticky sensation on the floor around you, ignoring the red that comes off on your hands. He's awake, he has to be, he's just ignoring you like a little bastard.

"Vantas man come on." You say again, moving your hand to turn his head back towards you. His eyes are half-shut, his mouth opening slightly as your hand grips his chin. "Just talk to me man this place is hell without you being all loud and obnoxious."

"Dave, come on." You hear Rose again, but you don't see her.

You look down at the small grey figure, wrapped up in the deep red of your cape. You barely notice the deep gash in his throat or how cold his usually warm cheeks are. You can hear footsteps moving towards you. You try and shake him again, because he's clearly fucking fallen asleep, the lazy shit. No wonder, seeing as he's been awake up here for days.

"Dave that's enough." That's Kanaya now. Your ectosister seems to have brought reinforcements. You don't get why they're all so willing to leave him alone up here with nobody to talk to. You'd hate to be alone up here. It's cold and dark.

You try and kiss him. You did this before he came up here and he got mad at you. You didn't care. Maybe that's why he's up here, maybe he's mad at you for kissing him? You pull away after just a moment, barely tasting the thin red coating on your lips, the same shade that stains his mouth and upper torso. You move your hand and the smears are there too, now, just below his cheekbone.

"Come on Karkat please." You say, struggling as the female troll behind you grabs your arms gently, removing you from his side. "Please just say something."

You're pulled backwards, your feet tangling in the cape momentarily, pulling his arm and head towards you, His hand reaches out as you're pulled away, his mouth hanging open in grim longing as his eyes find yours. You scream in frustration, because he's right fucking there and nobody else seems to care. Rose is shooshing you, wrapping some knitted jade and purple abomination around your shoulders even as you pull against Kanaya's vice-like grip.

You're behind the door. Rose is shutting it. You can hear your screams reverberating around the hollow metal stairwell even now, shrieking like a banshee and not caring who heard. You're screaming his name, over and over with such pain you can almost feel your heart and everyone else's hearts tear in two with just the sound of it.

Because you know he's gone, of course you know he's gone. You're 15 not stupid. You saw Bro die and you saw yourself die plenty of times, you know what it looks like.

But just for now, just on this meteor, you wanted to pretend he was okay. You wanted to pretend he was still there to be angry at you and hate on Gamzee with you, that he was still there to pick you up whenever Terezi decided you were boring that day. You didn't want to believe you'd never see him grow up, his eyes become that fiery red that his anger burned right through his cheeks every time you fought with him. You wanted to talk to him about that kiss without him storming off. You wanted to try again.

You're still screaming as they drag you back to the main block. Through tear-soaked eyes you see Terezi open her door briefly, giving you a horribly pitying look as you're dragged past. You've left your shades with him on the roof. You don't care. He can have them, now, after so long trying to take them from you he deserves them.

He deserved alot.

A long life, quiet but interesting, in a new world where he wasn't hated for who he was.

He deserved to win this game, he protected everyone he could, risking everything just to get as much of his team to the other side as possible, and you couldn't even return some of that and protect him from that stupid fucking clown.

He's left you here, alone and hollow inside, and you can do nothing but scream.


End file.
